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Monthly Archives: April 2015

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Several awesome things are happening this weekend: babysitting, the promise of assaulting my friends’ eyeballs with my latest hopeless attempt at “fashion” [a jumpsuit that fits perfectly enough now in month eight to only a give off a slight snake-that’s-swallowed-a-goat vibe — Google it. I’ll wait here, cracking up], a party that celebrates both some fight that I guess must be a big deal or something and, if that were not enough, the Kentucky Derby. Needless to say, all excuses to fete bourbon, mint, big hats and horsies are taken seriously around here, especially because it’s finally given me a chance to talk about the deliciousness that is Not Derby Pie.

Have you ever had Actual Derby Pie? Created in 1950 at the Melrose Inn in Prospect, Kentucky, the gooey pie is studded with chocolate and walnuts and a splash of bourbon,* a bit like a pecan pie minus the heaps of corn syrup. I was briefly in Louisville a couple years ago, and predictably made a point of trying all of the bourbon (oops) and at least one wedge of this pie. However — please forgive me, Kentucky — I was underwhelmed. It was so sweet and so gooey, I wondered if I could make it at home, thinner, with a little crunchy salt and with more depth of flavor (deeply toasted nuts, brown sugar, brown butter and vanilla, perhaps?). Aren’t Yankees the worst?

There are too many times when pork chops simply don’t get the praise they deserve. When cooked right, this lean cut carries its weight (and then some) as a tender, flavorful main course. It can serve as a simple supper yet also has a place on the table at a nice holiday dinner.

Whether you cook them on the stovetop, bake them in the oven, or grill them, be sure you’re not making one of these common mistakes the next time pork chops are on the menu.

The World’s Fair is in Milan this year, and the theme is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.” To mark the occasion, the MoMA Design Store launched a collection of playful products for the table in collaboration with a group of iconic and well-known Italian designers. Here are some of my favorite products from the collection — all are either new or created for the first time from designers’ archival drawings.

Have a big wall in your kitchen or your dining room? Want to fill it with something dramatic? Have I got the thing for you. Meet the murals at Anewall Decor. Watercolors not your thing? Try these instead:

I may have suddenly, and at least a month earlier than I’d hoped, reached the slightly less awesome phase of pregnancy, which I suspect is nature’s way of ensuring that despite all of the great things about gestating — thick, shiny hair! elastic-waist pants! people actually encouraging you to be lazy! — you will have little desire to stay this way forever.

It started two Mondays ago when all of my shirts simultaneously stopped fitting, as if they were in a pact with each other to make a cold-bellied mockery of my attempts to avoid maternity clothing this time around. Then, this old lady I swim with told me I was looking “huge” and evidently undaunted by the dripping sarcasm in my “thanks?” asked how was I going to make it to July. Was I sure I was not carrying twins? I was going to need an oxygen tank to get around by summer! When I came home and my husband asked how my swim was, I burst into tears because all of these feelings have made me extra-lame to be around. Then, as if on cue, swimming got about 3x harder. Was the water always this glue-like? Did I always have to take this many breaths per lap? I joked to the nurse at my doctor’s office that the second I lay down, even for a second, this child starts what could only be interpreted as 1980’s Legwarmer, Headband and Hightops Aerobics and she said “that’s exactly what it’s going to be like when it comes out!” leading my husband and I to shake in terror at the idea that every time we sit down — basically our favorite thing, because it’s the best thing — for the next several years, something will happen that makes us have to stand up, even though as second-time parents we know this to be the truth.

These pancakes are bananas. No, I mean they are literally made from bananas. And eggs. Eggs and bananas, and that’s it. I can see that look you’re giving me right now, but you just have to trust. These two ingredients, whisked together and given a little skillet love, are truly something magical.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at our step-by-step recipe and decide for yourself. Meanwhile, I’ll be over here with the rest of these pancakes, licking my plate clean.